Clear Coating

I've been thinking, normaly y'all say to wait about a week before you clear coat and polish correct? Well, I sprayed the Skyline body last night around 9. It's been a fairly hot day (about 100 degrees in the garage), almost no humidity and no precipitation. So, do I need to wait that long before I clear, or could I clear it now? Also, should I use the Tamiya Clear or the Model Masters clear to go over the Model Masters paint?

I've been thinking, normaly y'all say to wait about a week before you clear coat and polish correct? Well, I sprayed the Skyline body last night around 9. It's been a fairly hot day (about 100 degrees in the garage), almost no humidity and no precipitation. So, do I need to wait that long before I clear, or could I clear it now? Also, should I use the Tamiya Clear or the Model Masters clear to go over the Model Masters paint?

You need to supply a bit more information.
Model Master acrylic, enamel or lacquer?
Spray can or airbrush?

Do you want to use Model Master clear acrylic, enamel or lacquer? Tamiya acrylic, enamel or lacquer?

This is important information to have if you want sound advice.

Sorry, wasn't thinking earlier today, just wanted an answer. I actually had the wrong paint also. It is Boyd's Smoke Grey Pearl enamel paint in a shake-n-spray (can) and the clears are Model Masters Lacquer clearcoat semi-gloss and Tamiya's Lacquer Cleas TS-13.

Dammit, search feature is broken again....

Don't spray lacquers over enamels.
If you're using enamels, 1 day is nowhere near long enough to wait before clear coating, perhaps come back in two weeks?

Don't spray lacquers over enamels.
If you're using enamels, 1 day is nowhere near long enough to wait before clear coating, perhaps come back in two weeks?

What he said, definately. Don't use either of the laquers over the MM enamel. Enamel clear would be a suitable choice, personally I'd use Tamiya acrylic clear. Enamels take FREAKING FOREVER to outgas, and if you overcoat it too soon, the clear is likely to crack/craze sometime later, and ruin the finish. To be safe, I'd probably leave the enamels closer to a month before I'd risk overcoating.

A month....I don't even think the hobby stores here sell enamel clear coating. So, should I save the lacquers for lacquer paints or will they work for acrylics too?

hmm...i sprayed boyds grape pearl on a bike i just did. and i used dupli color clear over it. if you are careful this works. just use SEVERAL mist cotes....now here is a question i have. what about acrylic enamel? i found some by duplicolor at auto zone. anyone have an opinion on this?

It is not impossible to get laquer clear to work over enamel or acrylic- but it is certainly not realiable. You'll probably find that you'll ruin just as many paintjobs as have it work. I've had it work over acrylic and look good- I've also had it look great sprayed over acrylic that had dried for a month- only to have the entire finish crack and craze three weeks later. 50% chance of failure is too much for me- I hate stripping bodies, especially good paint jobs that have been ruined with clearcoat.

Unless you enjoy stripping as much as painting, leave the laquer clears for laquer paints.

Another advantage to Tamiya acrylic clear over enamel is if you don't like the clear, you can strip it off of the paint, leaving the paint undamaged.

If you have an airbrush get Modelmaster's Metalizer sealer. It'll work just fine over enamels and dries quickly and polishes out well to. Just give it a couple of weeks to gas out properly before polishing.

Niclas